Suffering? Is there hope, even though we suffer?

Written with intent to help a hurting world ~

 I, by no means, stand by in judgment or with unsympathetic heart as I share these words. My motivation is to help us all understand that in the midst of suffering, God has us. There is hope. Please walk through the words with me here and see.

Some of the body of this post stems from things learned in Cries from the heart -Ravi Zacharias and words spoken in Rick Warren's Easter sermon 2010.

Have you ever felt like this?

"Human life is a struggle, isn’t it?    It’s a life sentence to hard labor.    Like field hands longing for quitting time and working stiffs with nothing to hope for but payday,I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere—    months of aimlessness, nights of misery!I go to bed and think, ‘How long till I can get up?’    I toss and turn as the night drags on—and I’m fed up!" (Job 7:1-6)

Maybe those words, don't seem to reflect it, but Job was a man who loved God. Scripture says, "Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion." ( Job 1:1-3 The Message Version of the Bible) 

Above, in Job 7, we see Job's frustration and cries to God. Just because he verbalized his hurt, does not mean that He did not love and respect God. He just wanted answers.

Job lost his family, his possessions, his health and if that wasn't hard enough the three friends who came to explain his suffering only added insult to injury.  If you read through the book of Job what you begin to see is in his questions to God, Job's theology (beliefs about God) were not accurate. Job, as much as he loved God and wanted to do right, had assumed that if he was good he would be blessed and if he was bad, he would be cursed. Why? Why is he suffering like this, when he has been so good?  Job's theology is rickety, but his belief in God is solid.

I remember as a young person, having a similar theology as Job's. I thought if I did my very best to do all I knew to be good, be respectful to parents, work hard in school, do my chores, be honest, be helpful to others, be kind -- that God would look down and bless me for doing the right things. I did not understand, that I did not see myself as God sees me. I did not know that God would use the suffering and evil in this world, to have me call out to Him and see things as He defined them. He has changed my theology. Theology that is pure and undefiled is what we truly need.

It becomes clear  in Job's conversations with God, the questions he asked God became laser focused.

As Ravi Zaharias points out in his book, Cries of the Heart, "this may be one of Job's greatest discoveries -- how important it is to ask the right questions."

Job questioned the reason for his suffering, more so than he did on how to endure it. We see near the end of Job's questioning, God challenges Job to admit his limitations and to allow God to be God. God insists that those limitations do and must exist.

But God takes Job beyond just making him think it was all too vast for him. What God wanted him to realize was that this same God who brought such pattern and beauty into a world He had fashioned out of nothing could also being a pattern and beauty out of Job's brokenness. The universe is both complex and intelligible, and Job was reminded of that. There is intelligence behind the design, as there is also intelligence in helping us cope with suffering."

God reminds Job that there is a mind and power infinitely greater than his listening to him. He was not just speaking into a void. 

Before Job's intense suffering, Job admits that "my ears had heard of you, God." But after his suffering, upon crying out to God, having a personal relationship with God, Job says" but now my eyes have seen You."

There is a place for knowing, hearing, and reading. But there has to come a moment of personal surrender. The real point of contact comes when that third-person knowledge -- the knowledge about God--becomes a first-person trust in God and commitment to His will. Only then does the personal understanding bring a reformed attitude.

I am reminded of a time, when a group of people who had seen the very miracles of God, were so fearful of being in a close personal relationship with God that they begged Moses to go up to the mountain to God for them. I believe they already felt they had lost enough (their familiar homes in Egypt, life they way they knew even though they were in bondage).

I don't want to live my whole life on this planet in fear --so fearful, that I cling to what is familiar -- missing seeing God and missing walking in His purposes for me. I don't want to wonder in the desert for 40 years like the children of Israel did. I want to come away from being with God like Moses did--- with my face glowing. I want to experience my heavenly Father personally. And I truly believe that it is the only way that I will be able to truly help others know Him.

If I don't risk everything to understand Him/His ways and go through the suffering He allows in order for my theology to be clarified (by God Himself) how could I do an adequate job of teaching my children and those God puts in front of me who He really is?

I don't want to leave you feeling fearful at all. I want you to know what Job knows; that God is real, He has never left you or forsaken you and that in all things He can bring about life. (even though at the time you may not feel it)

Can I have hope, even though my suffering is immense?

From Rick Warren:

Hope is not optimism. Optimism is psychological; hope is theological. Optimism is personal trust in yourself; hope is personal trust in God. Optimism is what you think you can do; hope is what you think God can do. Optimism is often a denial of reality; it's positive thinking not permanent trust. Optimism is often a Pollyanna attitude that says “the sun will come out tomorrow, it's not that bad, it's okay it's not as bad as we think it is.” It denies that fact that life may be bad at a particular moment in your life. Hope never does that. Hope is always reality. Hope says “yep, it's really, really bad but I believe God can bring us through this; I believe God is in control.” Where do you get hope? You get it from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His resurrection is the central event of ALL history. It's 2013, because 2013 years He rose from the dead. All life is dated by His resurrection.

Because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead your faith and hope can be confidently placed in God. 1 Peter 1:21

I share these words with you so that you might know, that no matter the suffering -- if you will put it all back in God's hands -- He can bring resurrection power to anything you suffer through.

So, can I have hope even though I suffer? Yes, because I know that Christ suffered on the cross and the end result was resurrected life.

Truth:  I know that in my suffering, God can bring about life even though I don't know how He will do it. Here lies my hope - knowing that Christ suffered THEN Christ rose to new life, (over 500 people in history witnessed it) and so I have this hope (confident expectation).

The Bible defines hope as "confident expectation." 

Some things to ponder before we close:

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, death will never have any dominion over him again.

Romans 6:9: “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.”

Acts 13:34: “He raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.”

Could it be, that when we suffer and it seems evil has conquered us, that by placing ourselves in God's hands (as Jesus did), that, we, too, will say "death no longer has dominion over us". That no matter what we face in this life, no suffering, no evil, no death will dominate us because we know and have experienced God in such a way that we know He brings life -- resurrection -- out of what appears to be death.  What is there to fear when we know God raised Christ from the dead? What have we to fear when we know that God - the author of life--breathes life into any situation placed in His hands?

Consider this:  Job interceded on behalf of his three  friends with their warped theologies. God heard Job.

Keep in mind that Scripture tells us because of the resurrection, Jesus intercedes for us in heaven before God.

Romans 8:34: “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Could it be that when we go through our suffering and allow God to reshape our heart and mind as He did in Job, that it tenders God's heart in such a way as to hear us when we intercede for our friends?  

I don't know what you have been through or what you are going through. I have been through various suffering that God allowed in my life. I am human and I can not say in my flesh that I would sign up for the suffering I endured again, but I will say that had I not gone through suffering, I would not have called out to God in desperation for answers and allowed Him to reshape my theology in the way it needed to be changed.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is God and I am not. And I know I do not want to be god of my own life. I know only He has the wisdom and understanding that I need. I do not fear what others think of me, I do not heed friends' advice who have warped theologies. I only trust what God teaches me through His Word and as we walk together -- I know He has me.

 Let Him change your theology(beliefs about Him), so you can walk hand in hand with Him, fearing nothing.

He has you.

Much love in our resurrected Lord,

Jessica